A New Home
by Saint Miroku
Summary: After surviving an attack by Menma, Utakata is given the chance to live in the Hidden Leaf Village, but past experiences make that very difficult for him. Ino, who's been treating him and has recently developed feelings for the man, decides to try and convince him to stay. Set in the Alternate Universe seen in Road to Ninja (obviously). A very short one shot celebrating two years.


Ino paused briefly before knocking on the door to Utakata's room. He'd only been in the village for a few weeks now, but she was already starting to feel attached to him. Initially, Tsunade had only intended to shelter him long enough for him to recover from the injuries he suffered while fighting the Masked Man, but once that matter had been settled and his tailed beast had returned, the Hokage sensed the massive opportunity that lay before her, and had decided to offer him a permanent place in the Leaf. He had no allegiance to any other village, so this wouldn't cause too much dispute (providing it was kept quiet of course), but the issue was whether or not Utakata himself would accept.

From her time spent healing and looking after him, Ino had quickly caught on to the fact that he didn't really trust anyone, likely due to his past as a Jinchūriki, and as such, it would be very difficult to persuade him to stay in any one place for too long. He was definitely starting to trust her though, which made her the ideal person to try and convince him to stay. Even without the orders of the Hokage, she was determined to keep him here, for she had gradually begun to develop feelings for him over the weeks, and she didn't want to see him go.

She knocked gently on the door before entering. When she entered the room, she saw him still laying in bed, blowing bubbles from his pipe as he often did when bored.

"So, how are you feeling today?" Ino asked while shooting him a warm smile.

"I feel fine, the pain's finally starting to subside," he replied, looking over at her as he did so. Ino moved towards the single chair that lay beside his bed and sat down facing him.

"I'd hate to bring this up again, but have you thought about the Hokage's offer some more?"

"Yeah, don't take this personally Ino, but I've never stayed in one place for two long, and honestly, I wouldn't feel comfortable starting now, especially not in a place with so many people."

"I hope you'll reconsider, I don't know what you've experienced in the past, but the people of this village are different, another Jinchūriki lives here named Menma, and he's just as welcome here as anyone else."

"I hope you'll forgive me, but I just can't believe that, I've never seen people be as welcoming as you say."

"What about me? I'm not afraid of you, and I know for a fact that the others here would feel the same way."

"Just because there not afraid doesn't mean that they'll ever accept me, being alone is less painful than being an outcast-"

Ino quickly interrupted him by moving forward and hugging him tightly.

"You don't have to be alone anymore, and you don't have to be an outcast either, even if the others never accept you I do, in fact I even... well I... I love you!" Ino said, moving back from the embrace while still keeping her arms around Utakata.

"Ino, do you... really mean that?" Utakata asked, a slight bit of disbelief evident in his voice.

"Of course, and the thought of seeing you go is too much for me to bear."

"In that case..." Utakata replied, moving closer to Ino before locking his lips with hers. She was somewhat taken aback by the abruptness of the kiss, but she quickly relaxed into it as she once again tightened her embrace around him. When the two eventually broke for air, he contiued, "...I guess I'll try staying here, at least for a little while,"

"That's great, I can't wait to show you all the great things this village has to offer!" Ino said, blushing bright red.

"Of course, I'm really looking forward to it." he replied as the two moved closer, and kissed once more. Utakata had no idea what to expect from this place, but he knew that if he had Ino at his side, everything would work out fine in the end.


End file.
